Be careful of the racist taxi drivers

So I was hanging with my buddy as he was trying to catch a taxi. He being a brown person, expectedly around 10 empty taxis passed by without slowing down because, as everyone knows, most of these racist drivers only stop for white people and tourists, in anticipation of a big tip. I became pissed off after 45 minutes, and lightly slapped on a speeding Toyota Camry taxi with my hand. The taxi hit the brakes, turned around, and a big beefy Pathan driver got ready to fight with me.

The guy rolled down his window and started shouting vulgarities at me in his native language. Then he turned around again, parked his death trap on the side of the road and came out. He shouted more obscenities as he came towards me and demanded to know why I touched his taxi. I on the other hand shouted back about why he didn’t stop, and got ready for a street fight.

Obviously, the guy would’ve pounded me into the pavement, considering he was twice my size. But I was ready to take a few blows and get him deported at the end. Finally, he only came within a couple of metres of me, mumbled some nonsense about having to go to some mall, and drove away with another brown passenger from the same spot. I gave a thumbs-up to his new passenger, because I made the driver pick up a brown guy at least.

As he drove away, I put RTA’s complaint number on my speed dial later on, but I am really pissed that I did not notice the taxi’s number or company at the time. It might have been an orange-topped one. But there’s no point pursuing the anonymous jerk any further.

Taxi drivers were great just three years ago, even going cross-country if you asked them to. Then they changed for the worse. In the papers, people have written letter after letter of taxis refusing to pick up anyone except mostly white people, refusing to go anywhere with traffic even for white folks, refusing to pick up passengers at certain times, refusing to pick up women, children or sick people, and even getting violent during arguments.

I suggest everyone remember the phone number 04 208 0888 to complain to the RTA about instances like this. I guess we all are supposed to keep a notepad to write down the numbers of the hundreds of taxis that pass us by without stopping.

Why feel sorry for people like these? Long working hours and low pay? My relatives and I had to endure the same bull to rise up here. We didn’t treat other people (let alone our own ethnicity) like this ever. I urge everyone to make it a point to complain about such incidents. I for one bought 3 cars just to avoid dealing with these low-lifes, in case one goes in for garage work.

Update: In case of any complaints against drivers or suggestions, passengers can call Dubai Taxi on 04-2080888 or via RTA’s website www.rta.ae

More info dating back from April 2007, about complaints against taxi drivers can be found inGulf News.

jakomo

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury

Just venting at something I thought was wrong, and didn’t just stand around watching. Hey Rivo, I didn’t look at the exact meaning until you brought it up. I guess I was going for one of the “other” meanings, hehe.

I own an ’87 Supra TT, a ’90 Merc and an ’02 Jeep V8. So no one can call ME racist.

Ace

Hey man, to be fair to these taxi folks…they work under pretty inhuman conditions…and like everybody else in dubai they wanna make some money too..
The rules & regulations of the taxi companies is questionable.. which makes these drivers behave this way.

Author

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury

As I said, I ain’t crying for them. That’s like saying you should excuse criminals because they’ve had a hard life. There are lots of people here whose earnings are modest, but they don’t behave this way, and I deal with all facets of society in this country due to work obligations and due to the area I live in.

sam

sorry to hear that dude, i hate all UAE taxi drivers. that goes for AUH, DXB and sharjah. they all pricks!!!. too bad you did not note down the plates. also what you could do next time is record it on video (im sure everyone has a cam phone these days).

is 800 9090 the number we use to report jacka$$ drivers too? like the ones that tailgate you on emirates road, drive on the shoulder, cut you off etc?

Author

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury

Ace

I wasnt sticking up for them..I’ve come across my share of ‘pricks’ ( i like the common understanding and free use of this term) too …
Now…If they give me grief…I tell them a long fare to get in the cab…and then once in…tell them wherever I realy wanna go..(if its a short trip)

Lotfi

its same here 2 i live in Qatar and they never stop except is u r wit a girl i was once waiting for a taxi for more than an hour more than 5 taxis waited they slowdown and then for soem reason then just speed off, i was waitin there wit ma mate and then this girl stands there the first taxi tht passes by goes all the way from the left lane to the right cutting off like 3 cars and stops for her i was pissed off sarted swearin fortunalty tht girl was kind enough share a taxi so i offered to pay for the whole fare, these taxis r pissing me off thank gd ma bro got his liscence, i hav 2 wait 1 more year.

lotfi

Ace

how about adding a link on drivearabia about – Taxi-men Behaviour. Share your experiences. And then forward data to RTA . It’d be like a general vent place, with taxi numbers and licence plates should you wish to make it an official petition against rude practices. Over to you Mr. Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury.

Author

Mashfique Hussain Chowdhury

Yep, thought of that. But I decided to wait a while until we become a more “respectable” media outlet. Right now, no one in the media industry cares about this website, but we’re quietly growing to bite them in the ass later.

Musa

Sometimes I feel that Dubai is on its way to becoming a utopia for BNP chavs. One point of praise for Dubai that some Britishers/Americans give is that it doesnt have any “PC crap” found in the UK/US. In other words, you are preferred by taxis, and sometimes are bumped to the front of queues.

Btw, this lot always claims that Dubai is an equal opportunity place without any racism, however I have this sneaking suspicion that many of them actually enjoy being given preferential treatment…. 🙂

Fouad

Hey Mash jus thought id drop in something…well of the biggest problems which again is one of the biggest advantages in Dubai…is the fact that it is multi cultured. When you have people coming in from all the wierd corners of the world, some with hardly any education to stand by…it really shows when they interact with people…this is something you will hardly ever come across while travelling in other parts of the world especially in Europe ( I wouldnt say too much about Africa) Over there you would find that even taxi drivers actually greet you with a warm smile and are actually real friendly…thats something you hardly ever come across in Dubai…

Fouad

Anthony

man i’m white yet i have the most horrible stories to tell about taxis in dubai… could u imagine calling RTA and asking for a taxi, then waiting for it from 4:30 till 11:00 ?!!!! i even got the complains recorded on my mobile as a souvenir of the most horrible day in my life 😛 And by the way the number you posted is for RTA general inquiries… for complain you should call 042080888 and what u need to give them is the number next to the back door not the plate number … but i dont think that will help i’ve tried it a lot.

thatsit(mohamad)

m

In all fairness, the poor guys dont get a base salary, only commissions. (forget listening to the company line; they are told to say they have a base salary. Actual conversation will tell you they dont). No accomodation, no nothing. If they undershoot 2 months in a row, they get fired. So the reason they tend to avoid brown people is not racism per se. Its because many want to go to karama / bur dubai, where the cab gets stuck in traffic for an hour, and the cabbie makes squat. White people usually want the marina / shk zayed rd / barsha. Long trip, low amounts of traffic. Voila. Want this fixed? Petition for a decent base salary for cabbies, or some kind of scheme where they are not penalized for traffic jams.

Its easy to criticize from our side of the fence, but think about it from their perspective for one second. They lead a horrible life. Btw: quite brown, worked my way up the hard way, and believe me, racism from taxi drivers is the least troubling of discrimination I see in this region.

Urvaksh Sheriar

Man, I feel really sorry for you, even though I am reading this in 2018. You should’ve threatened that f**king as**ole by saying that you were calling the cops on that guy. Such drivers should be fired from their jobs and made to apologize by the police. They know nothing about anti-racism, and they, by their actions, are contradicting Nelson Mandela’s (I really respect that guy even though I’m white) life and his teachings… have a good day though…